A web developer often makes a mental note of the next few jobs they need to do in order to prioritise. Most developer’s (myself included) are a breed who like to complete the work as efficiently as possible, while still getting the job done to a top standard.
Because of this it’s not rare for us, while taking the aforementioned mental notes, to wonder if anyone has previously accomplished similar jobs or tasks and better yet, if they have been nice enough to share the code.
And so the routine of trawling through the web to find that one timesaving tool or script begins. Sometimes the background research can take longer than the work itself.
During my online travels I have come across a few scripts and tools which I use time and time again to aid my overall efficiency. In a bid to help make your searches easier, I have listed some of my favourite tools here;
1. CSS Pie
This is a free, easy to use and effective tool that allows you to use some of the more useful CSS3 features with Internet Explorer 6 – 9. There is a demo on their home page and the documentation is clear and easy to follow.
2. Obout Suite
This is a large suite of tools, offering a wide array of easy to use functionality. I frequently use their Colour Picker and HTML Editor with no problems. It’s not a free product but their support is well worth the cost. There is documentation but it’s often hard to find the specific answers you’re looking for.
3. Online Guid Generator
If you use GUID’s in your databases then you could do worse than to have this page open while adding fields. Although it’s often possible to generate your own GUID’s using code, if you are manually entering data into a database, this is a useful tool to have with you.
4. Color Scheme Designer
Now I’m not a designer’ but every so often I have to design a website from scratch and my sticking point is often which colours work well with my site’s primary colour. I found the Color Scheme Designer and have never needed to look further. Once you have chosen your colours from the wheel, it allows you to preview what they would look like when combined on a dummy site.
5. JQuery Tools
JQuery Tools is a handy set of scripts which perform aesthetically pleasing client side functionality. The ones I use most commonly are the Tabs and Scrollable Divs. Although there are a few limitations with the scripts, they are simple to setup and easy to style.
6. CSS Reset
This is a simple bit of CSS designed to reduce browser inconsistencies. It doesn’t cover everything but it does mean browser testing is a slightly shorter job than it otherwise would have been.
7. JonDesign’s SmoothGallery
This is a simple slideshow gallery which works well and uses MooTools instead of JQuery or Prototype.js. It’s often updated with new features and has several examples which include documentation if you get stuck.
8. Icon Finder
This is a great icon search engine which allows you to look for free icons to use on your site. Just type in a keyword and let the engine locate the relevant icons.
9. jQuery UI
This is an open source library of User Interface components which is surprisingly easy to use and very effective. Each one is easily styled and well documented leaving little room for error (famous last words).
10 ITextSharp
A port from the IText Java library, this helps you write PDF generation in C# for the .NET platform. It’s free to use and comparatively easy to write.
And there you have it. Of course there are many more tools, scripts, and libraries out there and we have all had our own experiences with them.
If you use anything that you feel should be on this list, let us know. We are always on the lookout for the latest greatest time saver.
